


dance with me

by hallelujah99



Series: The Goodkind-Shalifoe Family [9]
Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluffy, Short One Shot, i cant emphasize how fluffy it is, snapshots over time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallelujah99/pseuds/hallelujah99
Summary: Toni's never been one for dancing.Snapshots of Toni's life over time with Shelby.Can be read as part of the series but can read alone.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Series: The Goodkind-Shalifoe Family [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088612
Comments: 4
Kudos: 99





	dance with me

Toni had never been one for dancing. Not in front of other people, anyway. 

She did love to dance, in the privacy of her own bedroom, if she had one for long enough to feel comfortable in. She’d dance in the bathroom as she got ready for school, if her mood was right, but never let anyone else see, never even let anyone else hear the music she was dancing along to. 

Once, Martha mentioned that when she got married, she wanted all the bridesmaids and groomsmen to do a choreographed dance down the aisle like in The Office, and Toni looked at her like she told her she expected Toni to show up butt-naked. Toni would have almost preferred that.

Something about a plane crash and falling in love on a deserted island changes a person, though. 

It started privately enough, just her and Shelby. Shelby would hold her hands and move them around while she sang, and Toni just kind of let her manipulate her body and call it dancing. Over time, she let her hips sway along with the movements, then her head and feet joined in. Shelby’s soul felt close enough to her own that she didn’t quite mind letting her in and seeing her dance. 

One night, all the other girls were singing and dancing, and Toni saw no reason not to join in, wrapping her arms around Shelby and losing herself in the joy and camaraderie of it all that it wasn’t until that night, tucked into Shelby’s side by the fire, that she even realized that she had let other people see her dance. When she caught Martha’s eye and she smirked, Toni knew Martha had noticed the shift in her. 

It wasn’t the island, though, not at all. 

Because when Toni was 21, she found herself in many crowded clubs, swaying her hips in time to the latest pop hits, not afraid of who was watching. It wasn’t the alcohol coursing through her veins, either, but the girl dancing with her. As long as Shelby was there, dancing with her, she couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone else watching her. It was all about feeling good with her girl. 

At one such club, during a trip back to Minnesota, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to find a familiar face smiling at her. 

She could hardly hear Regan over the music, but she caught her joke about the fact that Toni had adamantly refused to dance to even one song at their junior prom. As she introduced her ex to the love of her life, she watched them give each other genuine smiles and even giggle and embrace after a few words spoken to each other. Toni realized at that moment that she was lucky, so incredibly lucky, to have dated such a sweet and good-hearted girl, and to be dating one who was all that, but who had been bonded to her in just the right way, and who had managed to unlock things in her she had never known existed. 

They danced in a group along with Regan’s girlfriend for a few songs before excusing themselves to head home, where they danced once more, slowly, in front of the Blackburn’s house, Shelby singing some country song that Toni had first heard on the island. 

Toni tried not to get too emotional during their first dance as wives. But oh, did she ever fail at that. Every inch of the woman in her arms was glowing, and Toni could hardly believe that she was really hers, for the rest of her life. She reached to stroke her thumb over her own ring finger, and even though her hands were wrapped around Shelby’s back, Shelby seemed to know exactly what she was doing and thinking, she always, always did. 

“Checking to see if it’s still there? Or if it’s real?” Shelby whispered. And even though Toni was already completely and totally in love with her wife (her wife!), she fell in love with her all over again in that moment. 

Dance parties became a tradition for their family as soon as their oldest daughter, Isla, could walk.

One evening, when it was storming and the power went out, Shelby grabbed flashlights and wrapped colorful tissue paper around them, and played music from her phone the whole family danced around the kitchen, singing along. 3-year-old June jumped around on top of the counter, Shelby holding her hands to keep her safe with every step, while 8-year-old Isla insisted on Toni spinning her around and around.

After the girls were asleep that night, Shelby and Toni danced in the darkness on top of their bed. It was clumsy and probably bad for their mattress but it happened, Shelby softly singing in Toni’s ear, running her hands over her body and it somehow affected her the way it had over a decade before.

“How many times do you think we’ve danced together?” Shelby asked Toni one night, as they swayed slowly, and gently in her arms. Toni thought back, trying to think of a weekly average, multiply it by 50, add a bit for the other two weeks, and then multiply that number by the number of years they’d been together, but after 63 years, those numbers got much too high to handle mentally. 

“Not enough times.” She answered, and the smile she got in return still made her heart flutter. She pulled her wife closer to her. “I fall in love with you all over again, every time, you know?” Toni asked, and Shelby nodded, because she absolutely knew. After all, for as long as she’d known her, Toni had always been one for dancing. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is like the fifth thing I started today and just wanted to post something??? Idk haha hopefully the next thing will be more fleshed out. I have an idea for an angsty fic but we'll see if I can really do that or if I change my mind and make everything work out just fine almost right away like I did last time lol
> 
> Follow me on my new twitter! @9hallelujah9  
> (It's pretty much just me screaming about tnr92's fics lol)
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments! Thanks!!


End file.
